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Kearsarge Revisited

Ascending Kearsarge Peak's Summit Ridge

I first climbed 12,598' Kearsarge Peak via Lily Pass in 2014, and, as is often the case, my famously-bad memory recorded it as one of the easier of the eastern Sierra's big-peak (more)

Mount Gleason

Mount Gleason, in the San Gabriel Mountains

I may have inwardly cringed a bit during my San Gabriel traverse last year when I claimed you could spend your whole life exploring the San Gabriel Mountains. Really? I asked (more)

San Jacinto Aerial

San Jacinto Peak - Aerial View

Here's a still-snowy San Gorgonio Mountain photobombing a mostly-dry San Jacinto Peak, as seen Wednesday on the way from LAX to Phoenix, Arizona. This shot really gives a good (more)

Throop Peak – North Gully

Matthew Testa skiing Throop Peak's north gully

Believe it or not this is the first time I've skied Throop Peak from its 9142' summit; I've come close previously, but always ascended/descended the big northwest face over Lily (more)

Sunday at Mount Baldy

Sunday at Mount Baldy

I am a spring skier at heart; give me t-shirts and slush over winter's cold brittle snowpacks anytime. And how about adding in a crew of good friends and family plus some SoCal (more)

The Baldy Crest

Mount Baldy's north face from Throop Peak

Here's the Baldy skyline from just off the summit of Throop Peak yesterday. There is still a heck of a lot of good snow on the north and west faces—if you're willing to (more)

Rosie’s Alley

Al Preston Skiing Rosie's Alley

On various adventures past I vaguely recall noticing a possibly-skiable line through Baldy Bowl's east buttress—but somehow I never got around to actually trying to ski (more)

A Very Wet Waterman

Skiing in a blizzard at Waterman Ski Lifts

With weekend snow levels forecast to dip as low as 4000', it was possible to believe there'd be cold April powder turns in the mountains this weekend. The reality was quite a (more)

Humphreys Cirque

Humphreys Cirque

While the west side of the San Francisco Peaks is inarguably beautiful, I tend to think of it as the boring part of the mountain. The west side includes the Arizona Snowbowl, and (more)

Allison Clay

Allison Clay

Dave Braun and I took a spring break trip to Flagstaff, Arizona this past week to ski some of the big lines on my hometown mountain, the San Francisco Peaks. Initially I was (more)

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About SierraDescents

When there is snow, SierraDescents is Andy Lewicky's California backcountry skiing and mountaineering website. Without snow, sierradescents becomes an ill-tempered hiking and climbing blog.

Pray for snow.